


Someone Who Cares

by Shtrigga



Series: Once in a lifetime groove [1]
Category: Being Human (UK), The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Drabble Sequence, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mitchell is a protector, Trust, sort of season 3 au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-23
Updated: 2015-09-27
Packaged: 2018-04-23 02:19:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4859402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shtrigga/pseuds/Shtrigga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A few season 3 moments that went differently for Anders with Mitchell being around</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1. Idunn and Bragi

Gaia is just about to leave, all disheveled and numbed, when Mitchell enters the flat. He immediately realizes that something is _wrong_. He knows _exactly_ what and Anders’s guilty despairing look only elevates the feeling. 

Without saying a word Gaia picks up her bag and rushes out.

“Oh, Mitch, fuck, I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I couldn’t control myself”, Anders mumbles trying desperately to calm his shaking hands.

“Did you two just…?”

Anders says nothing, his face covered with his palms, the heart pounding. He feels _awful_. Not only was it a betrayal, he betrayed Mitchell. _Mitchell_. The only person he didn’t want to get hurt. The blond loves him more than anything, the one good thing in his life. And how did he manage to fuck this up? 

He feels a sudden need to explain himself but somehow knows it will be futile. Mitchell will never forgive him, not after _that_. Oh, fuck this. Fuck the gods and Gaia and his family who didn’t even give a helping hand. The only one he actually cares about is standing right in front of him, something strange in his eyes. _Probably pain_. Anders can’t figure.

“How did this happen?” the vampire asks quietly, moving closer, but slow in order not to scare his shocked boyfriend away.

“It just… _did_. I mean she… She came to me, Mitch, honestly! You know I wouldn’t have done it to you, right? She came here and I just… couldn’t resist. Bragi was at the wheel, and my sense of control went down the drain. I couldn’t help it, okay?” he snaps, his voice shaking. 

“You probably couldn’t”, Mitchell nods, still petrified, knocked over but on no account _angry_. This funny look Anders has noticed isn’t pain actually. It is _sympathy_. Mitchell didn’t realize it yet but knows subconsciously Anders isn’t one to blame. But his words are misinterpreted. 

“Yeah, right, I get it”, the blond sighs, too crushed to argue. “I better go then. Don’t want it to get too awkward. After all, it was _my_ fault, not yours, so… you stay and… I’ll go find a motel or something.”

He grabs the keys and the wallet and hurries past Mitchell trying to avoid eye contact. 

“Wait, Anders - ”

“No, don’t start, please. I knew I screwed up. I’m the most terrible person in the world as it is, and whatever you wanna say… I know it already, Mitchell. Everyone’s been telling me that: my brothers, Grandpa, goddesses. I don’t want to hear these words from you. Not now, at least.”

He turns away and leaves the place resisting the urge to slam the door. How could he? Mitchell has nothing to do with that, he doesn’t deserve that kind of treatment. So, Anders just goes timidly downstairs and right to the car, his heart in his throat, barely holding himself together.

This is it, then. The only long-term relationship he’s been capable of are over because of some stupid god shit he didn’t even have control over. So _unfair_. But Anders doesn’t give it much thought. He never believed this’d work out for them in the first place. Just so much happiness and understanding and laughs – he definitely didn’t deserve it. And Mitchell didn’t deserve him either. Mitch needs someone better, not that self-serving, arrogant dick he is. 

So, from the moment Gaia became Idunn, Anders knew this nice little thing between them would be over. Maybe it happened for the best.

Anders gets into the car and sits there, his eyes closed tight, letting frustration and guilt surge through him. He has to start the engine but too jacked up to even move. Ten minutes later he comes to senses when the car door opens and slams.

“What the - ” he turns, frightened by the sudden noise.

“It’s not your fault, Anders.”

“Mitchell? What did you - ”

“This is _not_ your fault,” the vampire repeats patiently and soothingly. “I, of all people, should know what it’s like when something inside you makes you do things you don’t want. And, I mean, as a vampire I know how hard it is to control blood lust, but being a god… I can’t even imagine how much worse it gets, having a force inside your body more than a thousand years old!”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Anders says stubbornly. “I could’ve done something about it but I was too weak, too - ”

“Come on, Anders, don’t beat yourself up,” he says. “You literally couldn’t. Didn’t you hear what Olaf said? Idunn and Bragi are _meant_ to be together and they don’t give a shit about you. Look, I’m a vampire, a supernatural being which is designed to long for blood. You, on the other hand, is just a human vessel with someone completely different inside. You are human. You are _not_ responsible for Bragi. Period.”

“Right…” Anders snorts.

“Hey, I’m serious!” Mitchell looks him right in the eyes with a persistent stare. “Look at me, Anders, I know what you think.”

“And what is that exactly?”

“That you deserve it,” he says shortly. “But you _don’t_. And I _do not_ blame you for what happened, ok? Will you come back with me now?”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea after…” Anders pauses. “D’you really think it wasn’t my fault?” he finally asks in a low voice.

“What was I just saying for the last five minutes? Look, you may be a prick, but I love you and… I sure can tell the cheating from the forced-by-gods sex. You don’t even like Gaia, you said it yourself. Why shouldn’t I trust you on this?”

“Because no one else does,” and there is so much pain and exhaustion in his tone, that Mitchell’s heart breaks for him. He doesn’t say anything, just leans to kiss Anders gently on the forehead. 

“I do, though.”

And Anders is so relieved to hear it, he can even feel the warm waves of happiness washing over. He sits there with a subtle smile wondering whether there was a single moment in his life when someone confided in him and can’t think of one. And he just knows with absolute certainty that he never loved Mitchell more than right now.

“So, does this mean, we can act like nothing happened?”

“Well,” Mitchell muses with a crooked smile, “I mean you should probably sleep on the couch for a couple of days, just to be sure…”

Anders pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Yeah, and, you know, change the sheets because I don’t really wanna - ” Mitchell is interrupted by a poke in the ribs and can’t help laughing. The blond joins him with a coy smirk, a weight is off his shoulders.

“And what about Gaia?” he finally asks.

“What about her?”

“If she tells Axl, all hell will break loose.”

“You know what? Whatever claims he has against you, it was _his_ girlfriend who came to you, so I have the equal right to go off the handle.”

“Well, if you put it this way…” he hesitates.

“He better not mess with vampires, Anders. He better not.”

For a second his eyes turn black, and surprisingly enough it makes Anders feel safer than ever.


	2. Odin's rage

“You did what?! “

“I called him,” Mitchell repeats with coolness.

“Are you out of your mind? What the hell were you thinking?!” Anders feels the panic rushing through his veins and right into the heart.

“I was thinking it would be better for us to make the first move. To have an advantage,” he explains.

“Advantage? Fuck the advantage! Gaia texted that Axl was _pissed_. Like, actual full-on-assassin-mode pissed. I don’t wanna be near him, not today… Or tomorrow… or until this thing blows over.”

Anders paces nervously around the bedroom, then, suddenly exhausted, sits on the bed.

“Well, I live here too, so if your brother shows up, I want it to be on my terms.”

“And bloody Gaia? What d’you need her for?”

“Just… trust me, okay? I know what to do,” Mitchell says, deceptively calm but there’s some tension in his eyes, some readiness to fight. “And stop looking like a deer in the headlights, it’ll be – ” 

Suddenly he’s interrupted by a furious knock on the door. Anders almost jumps, startled by its imminence.

“Go sit on the couch, will you? I’ll open.”

“Maybe I’d better stay here?” the blond shivers a bit. “Or call Mike? Because I’m not sure you can handle this by yourse – ”

“Anders? Just go.”

Mitchell musters up all his courage and poise and goes to the door, ready to grab Axl if necessary. There is a click of the lock as the door opens, and the vampire sees him standing still in the middle of the staircase in a towering rage.

“Where the fuck is he?” Axl roars, barely holding himself together. 

_And there it is._ It’s not that he didn’t expect something like that but the sight of heavily breathing pissed-off guy bothers him. And one more thing – Axl is alone. 

“Let me in! Oh, I can see him. Hey, Anders, too coward to come and meet me personally? Oh, right, all you’re not scared to do is fuck someone else’s fiancées!” 

Mitchell grabs his elbow, eyes black all of a sudden.

“Shut your mouth, Axl. Just shut it,” he hisses. “Now, counter-question: where is Gaia?”

“Outside, in the car, obviously. I’m not gonna bring her anywhere near this prick anymore.”

“The deal was you _both_ come and we talk. Now, if you don’t like it then fuck off. ”

“Fuck off, eh?” Axl sneers. “Why don’t _you_ get the fuck out of my way?”

“Just calm down, would you!” Mitchell purses his lips, not breaking eye contact, a predatory spark flashed in his eyes. The way he bears himself, the posture shows his will to protect the one sitting nervously behind his back. “Go. Get. Gaia.”

“All right, fine.” 

Axl breaks free of Mitchell’s hands and leaves, just to come back three minutes later with the girl tagging behind.

“Happy?” he snaps viciously. 

Anders turns around only to be struck by Idunn’s presence in the room. He feels Bragi wiggling and whispering inside, driving him insane. _Just please, don’t leave us alone in here_ is the only thought in his head. Nonetheless he’s making an attempt to apologize.

“Look, Axl, I’m so sorry. I didn’t wanna sleep with her, you know. You’re my baby brother, and I would never – ” 

“I’m gonna fucking kill him,” Axl mutters throwing at him but Mitchell’s already on his path, the palm on Axl’s chest.

“Chill the fuck out, okay?” he says shortly. “So, this is how we gonna do it. We’re all became victims of – ”

“Like hell we are!” Axl breaks in. “Look at him. How could you even believe he’s innocent?”

Somehow that hurts. Mitchell has been in Auckland for a while now but still couldn’t get used to the way all the brothers treated Anders. The black sheep of the family, the pariah, the useless castaway. It was just so difficult for him to understand this attitude. Well, yes, sometimes Anders was a sassy, impudent, egotistic son of bitch… but _harmless_. It’s not like he ever mugged or… killed people at night. _Like himself._

“How could _you_ not? He’s your brother, for fuck’s sake!”

“Yeah, and I told him to stay away from Gaia just the other day. And how did that turn up, huh?”

“Okay, if you wanna do this the hard way…” Mitchell sighs. “Here’s the situation. I’ve got a boyfriend, you’ve got a girlfriend. And it was _Gaia_ who came to our place while I was out with Ty and Olaf. So, that’s one thing to tell about Anders’s being «guilty». Why don’t you better ask her why she was here?”

“Right, like that is so difficult to guess. He bragied Gaia into having sex with him like he always does.”

“I did not!” Anders barely restrains his groan and hides his face in his hands. 

“Oh, no, no, no, Axl, you’re missing the point here,” Mitchell grins. “You see, you came here because Anders supposedly hurt your feelings. But the thing is it should’ve been _me_ busting into your house yelling and threatening because from my point of view the guilty one is Gaia.”

“Don’t you dare pulling her into this!”

“Well then, don’t you dare accusing Anders for sitting here peacefully and watching telly late in the night,” Mitchell retorts calmly. “If you haven’t noticed yet, we’ve been together for months and I can bet my _life_ he wouldn’t cheat on me. Not like that, not with Gaia.”

“Am I supposed to believe that?” Axl asks tiredly, not really believing in his own words anymore.

“He didn’t sweet-talk me into this, Axl,” Gaia finally says, her voice hoarse from tears. “You know that and I know that. Idunn and Bragi made us do things without really asking for a permission,” she and Anders looks desolately at one another, both caught by the same memory, haunting and yet so utterly mesmerizing that sent chills of pleasure down their backs. “And Mitchell’s right – if someone should be offended, it’s him, not you. ”

Anders feels the need to say something, anything, in order to turn his face from her eyes.

“Listen, Axl, I’m so not proud of what I’ve done but I just couldn’t fight it. Neither could Gaia. I’m not saying that’s entirely her fault or mine. It’s just… gods. If you want to blame someone, blame these thousand-year-old perverted freaks who clearly enjoyed making their vessels do stuff any porn film be envious of – ”

“Anders, you’re only making it worse, you know,” Mitchell adds touching his shoulder while watching Axl’s face flushed and swollen with anger. “Look, mate, what’s your problem here? You’re clever guy, you’ve already learnt what godly powers can do to people. So, why is that so important for you to fix the blame on your brother? Anders’s never done anything bad to you before, am I correct?”

“Yes,” Axl admits, and he takes a deep breath.”It’s just Anders is so fucking – ”

He looks his brother directly in the eyes for the first time and all he sees with a sudden surge of dismay and worry is a pale haggard face, every muscle is tensed as if Anders’s terrified of him. Well, he should be, but on some level that makes Axl feel terrible. Would the guilty man have the same expression? He doubts, remembering suddenly all of the times Anders was bragging about some girls he has shagged, and he almost glowed with gratification. 

Now it is _way_ too different.

Axl moves his gaze to each of them – Mitchell standing defensively between him and Anders, Gaia sitting motionless in the chair, eyes fixed on her hands. All at once he feels this inexplicable red mist of rage is clearing, letting him see the situation for what it really is. 

“Fine, okay, I see your point,” he whispers with a nod. 

“Good. Why don’t we sit and talk like adults, then?” Mitchell asks.

“What is there to discuss, anyway?” Anders joins, seemingly relieved. “It’s not like we can beat it.”

“We need to watch out for each other, that’s what,” the vampire says. “Who else did you tell about…?”

“Stacey,” Gaia and Anders say in chorus.

“And that means everyone’s already in the know,” the blond continues with a bitter smirk. “I should unmute my phone and wait for compassionate calls from my beloved family.”

He looks up to find Mitchell’s hazel eyes fixed upon him. _How is he even capable of preserving self-control?_

Anders imagines for a second how far this whole thing could’ve gone without Mitch and squints with fear. No way his brothers would’ve stood up for him. Olaf would’ve probably said some stupid crackpot shit and… and he would’ve been left alone. Again. 

He subconsciously moves closer to Mitchell wishing so bad for this little meeting to be over.

“That’s actually a good thing. Someone should always be with Gaia and Anders, and therefore we’ll prevent a relapse.”

“Great! Not only am I the goddess, which I _hate_ to be, now you put me under 24 hour surveillance.”

“That sucks a bag of dicks,” Anders nods. But he, for one, would be happy to spend more time with Mitchell.

Axl exhales. “It’s our only choice, Gaia, whether you like it or not. I’ll call Mike, then,” he stands up, ready to leave. “I am... errr... glad we’ve worked it out.”

“Just in time for you to not kick my sorry ass.”

“Anders,” he sighs, “I’m still kinda mad, so don’t… start with your witty comments just yet or I’ll punch you for real… Erm… I guess we’ll see ourselves out.”

“Hey, Axl,” Mitchell stops him right in the doorway. There’s something strange in his face. “I’m _sorry_ for giving you such a hard time.”

The words hang a moment in the air before Axl is able to murmur “Me too” staring behind his back, at Anders.

As the door’s closed, Mitchell sags against the wall sighing in relief.

“Holy Mary, mother of god…”

A cheeky grin spreads over Anders’s face. “I think it’s kind of a blasphemy saying it in front of me.” 

“You can’t even imagine how close I was at some point to tearing this fucker’s throat out!” he hisses. “When Axl started saying this shit about you, I was…. oh my god…”

Anders raises his eyebrow in utter disbelief, looking at the vampire with an amused smile. _So much for self-possession_. But it pleases him dearly to hear that there’s someone in his life caring that much. For as long as he could remember he was always on his own in every single family fight. To be more precise, it was him against Mike, and everyone sided with the older brother. 

“Don’t you think it was too much?” there’s a change in Mitchell’s voice now, from anger to regret. “I might've overreacted a bit.”

“Nah, it was fine. You did great. Axl needs to know that he’s not the ruler of the world.”

“You sure?” he doubts but a moment later it fades away as Anders moves closer to him for a light kiss.

 

~~~

Already on their way to the car Gaia suddenly slows her pace. “Axl, I think I forgot my phone up there. I’ll be right back.”

“Is it something to do with Bragi again?” he questions, a touch of suspicion in his voice.

“No, seriously, it’s just my phone,” she promises with a subtle smile.

As she goes back to the apartment, she keeps thinking over and over about things she wanted to say.

“Gaia? Did you forget something?” Mitchell opens the door, and she’s glad because he’s the one she needed to talk to.

“Can you step out for a sec?”

“Sure,” he frowns but doesn’t mention anything just yet.

“Erm… look, I just wanted to say something to you… it’s so great that you love Anders and protect him. God knows, maybe it’s the only thing he ever needed. You know, to keep him from acting like a jerk he’s been before.”

“I know,” he folds his arms.

“And also I wanted to say… don’t worry. I’ll never come back again and try to make a move on him.”

“You can’t tell that for sure, you know that, right?”

“I can and I do,” Gaia says biting her lower lip. “I’ve made a very important decision, Mitchell, and you’re actually the first one I’m telling,” she smiles. 

“Oh, you’re not gonna do anything stupid, I hope?”

“Just leave this country,” she shrugs. “I've always wanted to travel. Now seems like a good time. So,” she continues at his pensive look, “goodbye, Mitchell.”

“Bye, Gaia,” he says softly. He wasn’t at all angry with her for what’d happened but now he does respect her for this decision. It takes some courage for a young girl to leave her homeland like that. He, for one, was quite uncomfortable with moving from England when Anders asked. 

As he closes the door, there’s Anders standing near the fish tank, waiting for him.

“Did you – ”

“Walls here are very thin. ”

“Think it’s for the best?”

“I’d say the farther she goes, the better for me. Gee, I only hope Axl won’t show up again after she breaks the news...”

Mitchell offers a supportive smile. 

“Well, in that case I’ll be there for you.”


End file.
